Mastering Public Speaking: Topic Selection and Research

1. Public Speaking Chapter 5: Selecting & Researching Your Topic

2. Objectives • Upon completing this session, you will be able to: • Select a topic • Focus your topic • Determine your purpose • Develop a clear thesis statement • Obtain responsible knowledge

3. Selecting & Researching Your Topic • Chart Your Interests to Select Topic • Perform 3 phases • Select the topic • Decide on a topic that fits both you and your audience • List all and decide on most logical, given time, audience, and environment • Determine your purpose • What do you need to communicate? • Acquire responsible knowledge • Research the topic

4. Selecting & Researching Your Topic • Phase 1 • Phase 2 • Phase 3 Public Speaking, 6th Ed., Osborne /Osborne, P. 121

5. Selecting & Researching Your Topic Finding a Good Topic for Your Speech • Chart your personal interests See list: p. 122 • Browse Media for ideas if stumped • Be careful,to summarize is to plagiarize Figure 5.2 (Osborn / Osborn, 2003)

6. Selecting & Researching Your Topic • Match your interests to your audience

7. Selecting & Researching Your Topic • Focusing Your Topic • Topics noted so far are … too broad • Topics must be focused, especially short ones • A speech is like a spotlight; the more focused it is, the more intense the light with a smaller area covered. (Sir Winston Churchill) • To focus ask: What, why, when, how, where, and who. • Example: What is environmental pollution? Why do we have it? When did it become a problem? How can we reduce it? Where are problems greatest? Who suffers from it?

8. Selecting & Researching Your Topic • Evaluating Your Topic Selection • Does it fit the assignment? • Can I give a speech on this topic in the allotted time? • Can I learn enough about this topic to give a responsible speech? • Why would I want to speak on this topic. • And…more importantly • why would anyone want to hear about it?

9. Selecting & Researching Your Topic • Topic Selected: Now Determine Your Purpose • General Function: Inform? Persuade? Celebrate? • Specific Purpose • Example: • Topic: National Parks • General Function: To Inform • Specific Purpose: To inform audience of the hiking trails in the High Country

10. Selecting & Researching Your Topic • Stating Your Specific Purpose • Informative Example: • Poor: Inform audience about the high country • Better: Inform audience of the three most picturesque trails in the High Country • Persuasive Example: • Persuade audience to stay alert when driving • Persuade audience that they should not talk on cell phone while driving

11. Selecting & Researching Your Topic • The Thesis Statement • The Thesis Statement usually reflects the Specific Purpose • Example: Today I want to present to you the three most beautiful trails in the High Country • The Preview • The preview follows the thesis statement and signals the man points to be covered • Example: First we will look at the Grandfather Profile Trail and then traverse the Linville Gorge and Virginia Creeper trails. • Ethics Alert: Be careful not to mislead in your thesis and preview statements.

12. Selecting & Researching Your Topic • Variations on the Thesis and Preview Statements • The unstated Thesis • As a device to involve the audience in discovering/formulating the thesis • Careful: Make sure they form the thesis you intended. • Thesis/Preview Combined • This is where the Thesis leads naturally into the preview as a part of the introduction. • Example: To introduce you to the many wonders of hiking the High Country, today I would like to describe the three picturesque trails: Profile, Gorge, and Creeper.

13. Selecting & Researching Your Topic • Acquiring Responsible Knowledge • Main issues • What Respected authorities say • Latest Developments • Related local applications • Delivering responsible Knowledge gives you audience something in return for their time

14. Selecting & Researching Your Topic • Acquiring Responsible Knowledge • Major sources are: • Your own knowledge and experience • The library • The Internet • Interviews • Sources provide the following to support your speech • Facts • Testimony • Examples • Narratives

15. Selecting & Researching Your Topic • Personal knowledge and experience • Lack direct experience? Arrange to get some • Visit site • Interview • Journal • The Internet • Learn to search productively • Avoid getting caught up in entertainment of buzz • Be sure to cite all information about the article you find • Author and credentials • Date posted/created • URL • Sponsoring source/site • Bookmark the link • Evaluate Internet Research results using the list on p.136

16. Selecting & Researching Your Topic • Using the Resources of: • Background Information Sources • Access to Information Sources • In-depth Information Sources • Current Information Sources • Local Information Sources

17. Selecting & Researching Your Topic • Using the Resources of: • Background Information Sources • www.libraryspot.com links to most major encyclopedias • www.oed.com for Oxford English Dictionary • Dmoz.org/reference/dictionaries for list

18. Selecting & Researching Your Topic • Using the Resources of: • Background Information Sources • Access to Information Sources • Readers Guide to Periodical Literature • Business Periodical Index • Library of Congress Subject Headings • Gives you the key terms by which to search the indexes • Search Engines on the internet

19. Selecting & Researching Your Topic • Using the Resources of: • Background Information Sources • Access to Information Sources • In-depth Information Sources • Periodicals • Books • Book Review Index • Journals • See list at end of Chapter 5 • Remember to cite sources, give credit to originators of ideas.

20. Selecting & Researching Your Topic • Using the Resources of: • Background Information Sources • Access to Information Sources • In-depth Information Sources • Current Information Sources • The internet • Log onto local papers • www.ecola.com list newspapers online • The Library • Facts on File (A weekly Publication)

21. Selecting & Researching Your Topic • Using the Resources of: • Background Information Sources • Access to Information Sources • In-depth Information Sources • Current Information Sources • Local Information Sources • Library • Vertical file of Newspaper Clippings pamphlets, and other materials about local people and issues • Local newspaper archives • Ecola newsstand at www.ecola.com/archive/press

22. Selecting & Researching Your Topic • Interviewing for Information • Excellent source of facts, testimony, examples, and stories • Problem: If you don’t know much about the subject you may not be able to properly evaluate what you hear. • In general the benefits outweigh the drawbacks • To get good sources, check you local library clippings or newspaper archives for good local interview candidates • Don’t forget campus sources: Expert professors & staff • You can interview on the telephone, via mail or e-mail but face-to-face is best

23. Selecting & Researching Your Topic • Making Contact • Write a letter explaining why you want to interview them • Send an e-mail • Prepare for the interview • Complete library and Internet research first • Write out interview questions ahead of time • Make sure responses will be relevant • Make them opened ended rather than closed ended • Design in a sequence so that they guide a line of thought

24. Selecting & Researching Your Topic • Preparing Your Interview (contd.) • If so then structure • Word questions so as not to be abrasive or provoking • How to record the answers • Recording avoids later misquotes or misunderstandings but … • Must ask permission • Some people just freeze up or won’t allow • Take good notes and ask for clarification when in doubt

25. Selecting & Researching Your Topic • Conducting The Interview • Arrive on time and well prepared • Dress appropriately and with respect to person being interviewed • Shows you take this interview and your task seriously • Let the expert do most of the talking • Adapt to the flow of the conversation • Be alert for opportunities to follow up. Use: • Probes-Questions that as a person to elaborate on a response • Mirror questions-Reflect back a part of the response to encourage further discussion.

26. Selecting & Researching Your Topic • Conducting The Interview • Arrive on time and Dress appropriately • Shows you take this interview and your task seriously • Let the expert do most of the talking • Adapt to the flow of the conversation • Be alert for opportunities to follow up. Use: • Probes-Questions that ask a person to elaborate • Mirror questions-Reflect back a part of the response to encourage further discussion. • Verifiers – Confirms the meaning of something said • Reinforcer – Encourages the person to expand further. • Smiles, nods or phrases such as, “I see.”

27. Selecting & Researching Your Topic • Buttoning Things Up • Verify the quotes you intend to use with the person so that you don’t misquote • After the interview, find a quiet place to go over your notes and make sure you clarify them while the discussion is fresh in your mind • Place all possible content on note cards to: • Have all you need and more to finally construct speech • Handle and sort categories • Source cards: Contain standard bibliographic information • Information cards: Hold facts, figures, examples or quotations

28. Selecting & Researching Your Topic • Testing Information • Does this source contain helpful and relevant information? • Does it cite experts who I can quote to support my position? • Are there interesting, clarifying examples? • Are there stories that will enliven my topic? • Is the information and are the sources • Reliable, trustworthy, and in agreement? • Thorough? Keep searching until no longer surprised • Recent? • Precise: Accurate for where and when you speak?

29. Summary • Having completed this session, you are able to: • Select a topic • Focus your topic • Determine your purpose • Develop a clear thesis statement • Obtain responsible knowledge